Wissadula excelsior C.Presl

Species

Angiosperms > Malvales > Malvaceae > Wissadula

Characteristics

Herb or shrub, the stem erect, 0.6-2.4 m high, sparingly branched above, cov-ered with 2 tiers of hairs, the lower tier of dense, minute, whitish or canescent, stellate hairs, the upper one of longer, stipitate, ferruginous, stellate hairs, the indumentum very dense when young. Leaves with the petiole much shorter than the blade, 0.25-8.5 cm long, covered with the same indumentum as the young branchlets, the stipules linear-subulate, 3-6 mm long; blade ovate or oblong-ovate, sometimes narrowly so, rounded or truncate or shallowly cordate with a very open sinus at the base, long-acuminate at the apex, the acumen acute or mostly blunt, entire-margined, 5-15 cm long and 2-8.5 cm broad, gradually smaller toward the apex, chartaceous, strongly discolorous, commonly 5-palminerved, the venation reticulate, the upper surface green or dark green, scabridulous, sparsely appressed-puberulus with simple and stellate hairs, at length glabrescent, and with the vena-tion impressed, the lower surface pale, with 2 tiers of hairs, the lower tier minutely stellate-tomentellous with whitish or canescent hairs, the upper one ferruginous-stellate-pubescent with longer, stipitate hairs, the ferruginous hairs especially dense along the veins, and with the venation prominent. Inflorescences paniculi-form, usually Dc-flowered, elongate, the axes and pedicels covered with the same indumentum as the young branchlets. Flowers rather short-pedicellate, the pedicel 0.5-1 cm long or shorter, slightly longer in fruit; calyx campanulate, lobed to about the middle, ca 3-4 mm long, covered with 2 tiers of hairs, minutely whitish-stellate-tomentellous and ferruginous-stellate-pubescent, the lobes deltoid, acute, ca 1.5-2 mm long and 1.2-1.5 mm broad at the base; petals obovate, 4-5 mm long and 2-3 mm broad, pale yellow, the claw minutely ciliolate; androecium ca 3-4 mm long, the staminal tube ca 1.5 mm long; styles ca 3.5-4 mm long, connate basally or almost free. Fruit turbinate, 5-lobed, constricted below the middle, the mericarps 5(6), 7-8 mm long, rigid-chartaceous, blackish at maturity, minutely puberulus, apiculate, the apiculum 0.5-0.8 mm long; seeds reniform-subglobose, 1.8-2 mm long, minutely puberulus but whitish-pilose around the hilum.
Life form perennial
Growth form shrub
Growth support free-standing
Foliage retention deciduous
Sexuality hermaphrodite
Pollination -
Spread -
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) 1.2 - 2.1
Root system -
Rooting depth (meter) -
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color
Blooming months -
Fruit color
Fruiting months -
Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway -

Environment

Usually in moist thickets at elevations up to 900 metres.
Light -
Soil humidity -
Soil texture -
Soil acidity -
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 9-12

Usage

Uses fiber
Edible -
Therapeutic use -
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Can be grown by seedlings.
Mode seedlings
Germination duration (days) -
Germination temperacture (C°) -
Germination luminosity -
Germination treatment -
Minimum temperature (C°) -
Optimum temperature (C°) -
Size -
Vigor -
Productivity -

Images

Leaf

Wissadula excelsior leaf picture by Nelson Zamora Villalobos (cc-by-nc)

Flower

Wissadula excelsior flower picture by Nelson Zamora Villalobos (cc-by-nc)

Distribution

Wissadula excelsior world distribution map, present in Argentina, Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Guyana, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Paraguay, Suriname, and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:564878-1
WFO ID wfo-0000427203
COL ID 5C2F2
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID -
Wikipedia (EN)
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Wissadula patens Sida excelsior Abutilon patens Abutilon excelsior Abutilon ferrugineum Wissadula ferruginea Sida calophylla Sida patens Abutilon rufescens Wissadula periplocifolia var. guatemalense Wissadula zeylanica var. guatemalense Wissadula rostrata var. wrightiana Wissadula periplocifolia var. wrightiana Wissadula zeylanica var. wrightiana Wissadula excelsior